Saturday, August 05, 2006

Cha-Ching: The Cost of Comics

The prices on comics these days are outrageous, especially for older issues. They're all shrink-wrapped and priced in mint condition. I don't want one in mint-condition. I'll take a copy crumpled up and torn in half if it means I get to read it at an affordable price. But even new comics are expensive. Individual issues of new comics are up to three dollars. That's ridiculous. What do you get for that price, ten minutes worth of entertainment? If I read slowly? I could pay a dollar more and rent a two-hour movie. And then I have to wait until next month to read the next part. And they wonder why the comics industry is collapsing. Lower the dang prices! I think the monthly comic book model is a dying breed, anyway. Does anyone really like reading 15 pages every month, and spending two years to get a whole story? It's cheaper and easier to buy collected issues in graphic novel format rather than individual comics. They should ditch the monthly issues and publish graphic novels every six months.

1 comment:

I agree. The value just isn't there. They can say that it's all about the high-quality art and paper, but in the end, for every great issue they publish, there's ten more that just aren't worth the money.And they're guaranteeing that they'll lose the children's market with those prices.Or course, that's probably what they want anyway. Go for the older crowd with the disposable income.